Day 10 – Aparima Huts to Princhester Hut

From the hut, it was another day of mostly river walking. The first half of the day, there was a nice 4WD track that gave me solid ground and a track to follow. This is Waterloo Station land, and I was walking with a number of cows. As I came close, they would get nervous and run away, but the only way they could run was further up the valley - the same direction I was headed. It was amusing at first, but soon got annoying. At one river bend I managed to carefully navigate around them on the far side without spooking them, finally putting the cows behind me after several hours.

The chief obstacles on today’s walk were bog, whenever I ventured far from the river, and cow pies. The terrain was relatively easy, but I soon found it was easier to walk on the banks of the river. I also quickly got over my aversion to getting my boots wet, as I was crossing the river so many times it wasn’t feasible to keep taking them off. The day was rather hot, so it was even a bit pleasurable to have the cold water on my feet.

I had another really excellent hiking day, but a long one. DoC estimates it takes 2 hours from Aparima Huts to Beckett’s Hut, and then another three to Princhester Hut. It wound up taking me twice that for each leg. Sure, I spent many long breaks daydreaming and lollygagging, but I didn’t think they were so long as to double the estimated time. Maybe it’s unfamiliarity with the country, or maybe I’m out of shape.

When I got to Princhester Hut, I met a pair of guys out on a weekend hunting trip. They fed me beers and were a great source of information about some of the flora (and relatively little fauna) I had encountered during the day. In the morning they will give me a ride into Te Anau so I can resupply for the next leg.